352 



THE SENSES 



the functions of the nervous system are controlled, and in part also the 

 constitution of consciousness. The analysis of both of these aspects, 

 the neural and the mental, await the fruitful attention of modern research. 

 Meissner's corpuscles consist essentially of a spiral or twisted plexus 

 of the fibrils of from one to five medullated nerve-fibers enclosed in a 



FIG. 202 



tist 



Nerves and their endings in the human skin: hst, epidermis; rm, germinative layer (Malpighii); 

 c, superficial plexus of nerve-fibrils; n, cutaneous nervelet; h, as, is, a hair and [its sheaths;_dr, 

 sebaceous glands. (Retzius.) 



thin lamellated connective-tissue capsule. These are found in the 

 tactile papilla? of the true skin. Rows of them make up the concentric 

 lines to be seen on the distal phalanges of the fingers.foEvery fourth 

 papillais tactile and contains one or sometimes two corpuscles of Meissner. 

 There appear to be in this region about twenty-one in every square milli- 



